What Is Screen Printing: The Ultimate Guide
Almost a millennium ago, before the introduction of electricity and computers, when there was no formalized printer, people still had a manual process to print - screen printing. A process first used by the Chinese, back in the 10th century for printing designs on fabric.
Over the centuries, it reached the rest of the world. Formal tools such as silkscreen, squeegee, and multiple inks were introduced. The use case expanded from fabric; it was used on paper, wood, metal, and glass. Still, in the 21st century, it’s the most popular commercial method for printing designs on apparel.
This article explains the whole screen printing process, its applications, and modern adaptations with the introduction of new tools. In the end, we also compare it with other popular printing methods.
In This Article
- What Is Screen Printing?
- How Does Screen Printing Work?
- Why Choose Screen Printing: 6 Key Advantages
- Applications of Screen Printing
- Screen Printing as a Business: How Good is It?
- FAQs on Screen Printing
- Conclusion
What Is Screen Printing?
Screen printing is a method of transferring an image onto a surface, typically fabric or paper, by pressing ink through a mesh screen. Each color in the design requires a separate screen. This process lets you make vibrant, long-lasting prints, and it’s really popular for making things like T-shirts and posters.
You place the screen on your material, spread ink over it, and then use a tool called a squeegee to push the ink through the screen and onto the surface. The areas of the screen that are blocked off don't let ink through, which creates your design.
How Does Screen Printing Work?
Screen printing is known to be a time-consuming process, which starts with stencil preparation, cleaning, drying and finally spreading ink through the screen. But, now with modern tools the tech has advanced, speeding up the process.
Let’s explore first the traditional method and then the xTool’s quick screen printing method.
The Traditional Method of Screen Printing
To follow the traditional method, you will need these tools:
- Mesh Screen: Finely woven fabric (polyester or silk) stretched over a frame
- Emulsion: A light-sensitive coating applied to the mesh screen
- Scoop Coater: A special tool for applying emulsion onto the mesh screen
- Transparent Film: Used to print the design that will be transferred onto the screen
- Printer: Prints the design onto the transparent film
- Exposure Unit: Emits strong light to harden the emulsion on the screen
- Inks: Special screen printing inks, usually plastisols, for creating the design on the chosen surface
After you have got these tools, you can follow the procedure for screen printing:
1. Take a mesh screen stretched tightly in a frame. This makes sure the screen smoothly absorbs and transfers the ink during printing.
2. Coat the screen with a layer of photo-sensitive emulsion using a scoop coater. This layer should be fully opaque and even across the mesh, just like a plain canvas we use for drawing.
Source: ©ILiketoMakeStuff – YouTube